Final Steps Before Construction Begins...

We are well underway in our home building process. I have absolutely no experience with this process but so far we are loving it. After choosing our perfect lot of land, with at least a 1/2 acre of flat, usable space, we decided on a floor plan that would be perfect for our ever growing crew. Next, we were able to finalize all of the structural changes and make all the difficult decisions, like brick and stone color scheme. I am actually very surprised at how well Jonathan and I were able to agree on pretty much every decision.

The design center was definitely the most exciting phase so far. We booked an appointment and spent four hours choosing every finish and detail of our "forever home." There were certainly frustrating elements of the process, as every detail had a price tag attached to it, but it was also so exhilarating to get to pick exactly what we want. We had the help of a design expert so I had the comfort of knowing we couldn't make too many mistakes. 

We started with the kitchen finishes and then slowly made our way from room to room choosing every detail. I will finally have my white kitchen and farmhouse sink! I am so excited to see how all of our choices will look...it's like a puzzle and unfortunately, we have to wait 6 months to see it all complete. I find it hard not to want to drive by our lot every day to see the progress. They should be starting the foundation sometime this week or next. 

I look forward to updating as things move along.

Holy Moly...8 years!!!

I still cannot believe that we have officially lived in our beautiful starter home for EIGHT years! It just doesn't feel like its been that long, I remember the long and tedious house hunting process! We looked at dozens of properties, I had to convey all my findings to Jonathan as he was still stationed at Camp Lejeuene. We put in offers on three other homes before finally finding and falling in love with our home!

It was way too much house for our little family of two but we knew it would be perfect when we decided to start our family. It has now been our place of comfort as we have brought home FOUR babies! We are busting at the seams now...no nook or cranny is not full of toys, toddler clothes or baby items. I never thought I would have something to put in every room, never thought we would be able to afford furniture for each space and certainly never thought we would be here long enough to upgrade our brand new house! It has been so much fun to change subtle things here and there these past eight years, we have loved every minute of being a part of this sweet community.

Unfortunately, after the arrival of our youngest little man, we have been yearning for more useable space. What worked for us at the beginning of our family expanding, no longer is the case. We are so very excited to announce WE ARE MOVING! It has been a long but thrilling process of trying to find our perfect, dream home, again! We have a little sadness in our hearts as we must say "goodbye" to our beautiful community and superb neighbors, we know we will keep our friendships forever, no matter where we call home. We have found the perfect plot of land in a small subdivision across town...construction begins in about 30 days! We will hopefully be moving into our new forever home sometime in July 2017. We are so ready for the adventure of building a home, I am beyond excited to pick all of our finishes and watch each stage of this wonderful process.

We are so grateful for all the years of memories made at 2001 Potomac Road, they will forever be with us. We are so very thankful for the friendships we have forged...Sebastian, Paisley and Milo have made forever buddies with our incredible neighbors. I will miss the comradery but we won't be too far away so hopefully we will still have plenty of friends at all our crazy birthday parties!

I looked through some photos and found some of our favorite memories over the years in
Annandale subdivision...

Halloween

Thousands of hours in the playroom

Water balloons in our undies

Afternoons playing in the backyard

 Flowers...oh the beautiful flowers

 TEN baby birthday parties

 Chillin in our rockers

 Visits with our horsey buddies

 Fabulous, lifelong friendships

 Too many car rides around the block

 Climbing in our secret garden

 Smiles, smiles and more smiles

 Smores, campfires and roasting hotdogs

 Star gazing on a Summer afternoon

 Gardening for hours

 Being whomever we want to be...Cindy Lou Who

 Long walks

SO MANY FIRSTS

and still many more to come!

Fun Family Visits of 2016

Well we were very blessed in 2016 to have a number of wonderful family come to visit and meet the new addition to the family. Jonathan's family live in the tropical state of Florida and we try to make it down there as often as possible but we also LOVE it when they come to visit us and see how we live.

Isaac and Alyssa tied the knot in February and we were able to make it down for the wedding. Paisley made the perfect flower girl and Sebastian was a little less than thrilled to bear the ring lol, but everyone looked fabulous.

This was also the trip that we shared our little secret...Lincoln Cooper would be arriving in August! We did not know he was a he yet but were very excited to tell everyone in person. Unfortunately, due to my weekly shots and traveling restrictions while pregnant, that was the last time we were able to visit.

Jonathan's parents, Grinny and Papaw came up to visit us shortly after Lincoln joined our sweet family and we had a fantastic week with them. Aside from meeting their new grandson, we were able to go to the Disney on Ice show, make some delicious meals, play games and just spend some quality time together! I always love it when my babies get to spend time with people who love them unconditionally and have the patience to embrace all their quirks.

We were thrilled when Aunt Becky and her beautiful daughters, Kayla and Abby came to visit in November! This was the first time they have been able to come up and stay with us and the kids really LOVED having their cousins around 24/7. We had a blast! We decorated our Christmas tree, baked and decorated sugar cookies, made crafts, saw a movie, played games, had some dance parties, and just enjoyed each others company. I really enjoyed the visit and finally was able to hang out with Kayla and Abby and get to know them better, I had only ever been able to see them for short, quick visits before.

We ended our year of wonderful visits with a superb week of Uncle Isaac and Aunt Alyssa. They arrived the day after Christmas and helped us use all of our new toys. Uncle Isaac is a beautiful lifestyle photographer and took so many gorgeous pictures of my sweet babies. He has the best talent of catching them naturally interacting with each other and playing and laughing. My kiddos are not the most cooperative kids when it come to smiling for pictures, so he was able to get some incredible, natural smiles.
I think the kids really fell in love with Aunt Alyssa, she was so willing to spend hours playing restaurant chef. They also really enjoyed going to the movies, shopping at the outlets, eating lots of delicious food and showing off every toy in the house. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful relatives to spend time with. I am so thankful that my children have 10 aunts (more to come) and 13 uncles to spoil them rotten! Our family is ever growing and I love it!

We hope to have twice as many visits in 2017....fingers crossed!

"Say Cheese"

It's about time we had some professional family photos taken...we all know there is no shortage of cute DAILY pictures of my little ones. I have a small problem with always wanting to share their "cuteness" with all our family and friends who do not live close by, so I have quite the full Instagram and Facebook photo accounts.

This was such a wonderful collections of photos, taken over an entire weekend as my brother and sister-in-laws came to see us after Christmas. Uncle Isaac has a way with the kids and is able to somehow, get them all to cooperate and look at the camera! If you live in Florida and would like some family photos, I highly recommend him!

We got a whopping 96 wonderful pictures from our fun weekend...here are some of my favorites!

I am so in love with this little family of mine! I cannot even begin to tell you how much flack and negativity we get when people see our young family. My answer to all the ignorant haters is, "If you knew what being a mama to these four beautiful children felt like, you would not open your mouth other than to say...'What a beautiful life you live!'" Enjoy looking at all those sweet faces...the porcelain skin and golden locks help.